Batting

AMERICUS, Ga. – In tight contests separated by a total of three runs, the Georgia College baseball team (22-15, 13-7 PBC) split a doubleheader at Georgia Southwestern State University (9-29, 6-17 PBC), dropping the first game 2-1 and rebounding for a 3-1 victory.

The split gives the Bobcats a 2-1 series win, as the Bobcats have now won five Peach Belt Conference (PBC) series on the year.

The Bobcats lost game one despite out-hitting the Hurricanes 7-6. The difference came on a seventh-inning run, scratched across on an error.

An RBI single by Clay Ardeeser (Loganville, Ga.) tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth. Ardeeser finished 2-for-3 with an RBI. Centerfielder Patrick Daugherty (Kennesaw, Ga.) also had a 2-for-4 game with a pair of singles. GSW leftfielder Zach Moss was the team's lone multi-hit performer, going 2-for-4

The loss stretched Mike Guinane (Glenview, Ill.) to 1-6, despite allowing just one earned run on five hits across his 6 2/3 innings. GSW starter Frank Ambrosino (3-2) went 8 2/3 innings with just one unearned run. The Bobcats had the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the ninth with two out, but a groundout ended the threat.

Game two was the flip side of the coin, as closer Matt LaMothe (Troy, Mich.) took to the hill for his first start of the season. The junior righty (3-0) responded with five shutout innings, scattering eight hits and not walking a single batter while fanning three. Classmate Zack Hula (Kennesaw, Ga.) tossed the final four innings for his fourth save of the year. Hula allowed just one run on two hits.

The Bobcats put up the first three runs of the game, as it took until the ninth for GSW to break the shutout. In the fifth, after back-to-back singles by Jeremy Donaldson (Winder, Ga.) and Heine Rivera (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and a wild pitch put runners on second and third, a groundout scored Donaldson for a 1-0 lead. Donaldson finished 2-for-3 with that run scored.

One inning later, third baseman Travis Echols (Suwanee, Ga.) ripped a double down the left field line, scoring Josh Young (Lake Havasu City, Ariz.), who had walked. After a sacrifice bunt put Echols on third, Karsten Strieby (Blair, Was.) drove him home with a flyout to center for the 3-0 lead.

Matt Weaver (1-7) took the loss for the Hurricanes, allowing three runs over 5 1/3 innings. Shortstop John Duran was 2-for-5 with the game's lone RBI for GSW.

The split puts GC at 13-7 in conference play, still tops in the PBC West Division with a .650 win percentage, ahead of the University of Montevallo (.583). The Bobcat win percentage ranks second in the league overall, behind only East Division leader USC Aiken (.682).

The Bobcats are back in action Wednesday, April 11 at 5 p.m., traveling to the University of West Georgia in non-conference action.

The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at www.twitter.com/BobcatSports and www.facebook.com/gcbobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information, and to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GC Athletics Hall of Fame.